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codalion's review
4.0
Comparative mythology tends to come off as bunk to me, and recalls the days of the English professor who tried eagerly to spoonfeed The Hero with a Thousand Faces to us -- but wow, if Trickster Makes This World is bunk, it's delightful bunk. Lovely, bewitching bunk. I could just burrow in so many of its sentences. And really, it's informative, if you take this kind of thing with a grain of salt; cleverly, annoyingly, I think it kind of encourages a grain of salt.
lfs's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting but frequently repetitive or meandering; dryly written.
mobilisinmobili's review
3.0
Generally good, but somewhat meandering account of tricksters in mythology.
meganzc's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
ominousevent's review
2.0
There was enough interesting stuff in this book to leave me frustrated by how little I liked it overall. Perhaps I was just sick of Hermes, but the best reading came when Hyde compared and contrasted artists and other real people with the trickster archetype; for the most part, this was a slog through repetitive investigation of folk tales and mythology that I thought could have been covered much more concisely. Maybe Hyde's style of writing just isn't for me. I can't think of another reason why I found reading this such a grind.
The most engaging part of the book ("Trickster and Gender") was shunted into the appendices, which gave me a sad face.
The most engaging part of the book ("Trickster and Gender") was shunted into the appendices, which gave me a sad face.
legs_mcgee's review against another edition
3.0
Incredibly interesting topic! I love the oral tradition Hyde weaves in, and really appreciate his comments on trickster myth and gender (the appendix in the back dedicated to that was probably my favourite bit).
That being said, this is a slow read- there's a lot of details and quotes that had a tendency to bog down the narrative. A good read but probably not the best choice for someone who is just interested in mythology and looking for a light, interesting read. definitely great for any scholarly interest, though, I would think!
That being said, this is a slow read- there's a lot of details and quotes that had a tendency to bog down the narrative. A good read but probably not the best choice for someone who is just interested in mythology and looking for a light, interesting read. definitely great for any scholarly interest, though, I would think!